The Succession
by Ru
Summary: Jareth has absolutely no intention of taking the goblin throne. Which is fine with the goblins as they have absolutely no intention of giving it to him!
1. Chapter 1

**The Succession**

Summary: Jareth has no interest in becoming the goblin King, which is more than fine with the goblins as they have no intentions of letting him!

**A hint of a Harry Potter crossover, but mainly Labyrinth orientated**

**Introduction**

_A very long time ago_

_A King stood on a battle field, bloodied but triumphant. His Weapons Master stood stoically at his side as he gazed around the field at the dead and dying. His army stood at his back and he waited as any goblin who could still stand upright struggled to rejoin them. No one made a move to help; any who fell behind would be left behind, as was goblin tradition._

_A dying soldier using the last of his strength swung at the King's back with his sword. The Weapons Master took him down, but an instant later, but it was too late._

_The goblins howled en masse, feeling the bonds between King and subjects wither away. The Weapons Master stared dispassionately at the dying King, annoyed at his own carelessness. _

_Time passed._

_A King snarled as he tasted bitter defeat at the hands of his enemies. His people had failed him and now lay dead around him. He could expect no mercy from the enemy, would have expected none in any case. Regardless, he would not die unforgotten. He was Gree the merciless, his appetites for both blood and death would surely remain unsurpassed._

_Far away, in distant lands, the goblins howled._

_Time passed._

_A King watched as his enemies were defeated and the castle set alight. His prisoners knelt before him and he leered at the young girl, "take that one to my quarters." _

_The guard bowed._

_The Weapons Master shifted subtly behind him. The man was uneasy, disapproved of the King's various appetites, but was relieved that at least this time he hadn't chosen a mindless beast. The King was mad he knew, everyone knew, they could feel the madness in every part of the bonds. It made them a little mad too, for as the people affected the King, so the King affected the people. Regardless, he would be obeyed and they would remain loyal._

_Time passed._


	2. Chapter 2

The goblins howled.

The goblin bonds saught a successor. Any goblin with royal blood was summoned to the goblin lands.

**The First Trial**

Jareth arrived both last and limping slightly, having run into a few problems as he travelled through the Labyrinth.

Unlike most of the other contenders for the throne he was not a well known figure at court and had only travelled through the Labyrinth once before.

Jareth had never had any intention of becoming well known either. His mother had been half human and according to his family, Jareth still had the taint. Jareth didn't care, actually preferred spending time with humans to time with his goblin family, who he had very little in common with.

His father had met his mother but briefly and Jareth had grown up in the Above, living with his mother amongst their human relatives for many years, before his father passed through the area a second time and noticed his existence.

Jareth had eventually accustomed himself to life with his goblin family, but shared few of their tastes. His father was an important goblin, being the brother of the late King, but he already had 3 purebred children and though he took the cross-breed goblin in, Jareth's existence was kept fairly quiet at court. This had suited Jareth, as the goblin people, as far as Jareth could see, were much like his family; scarily violent and abusive to anyone who showed a hint of weakness.

Unfortunately, this time his human taint had not let him escape. Anyone receiving the summons had to attend court and prove themselves, if they could, as worthy for the throne. Even though Jareth couldn't imagine anything worse than being King of these people. Unfortunately, his father had proved utterly unmovable on the subject, tradition was tradition and even though he agreed Jareth had no chance in hell of succeeding, he must make the journey regardless.

Jareth, for once in his life, could not be hidden away as the slightly embarrassing relative.

He looked up at the castle in dismay; it was just as dark and dreary as he remembered. He sighed heavily before pushing open the door.

It was the first trial, to pass through the Labyrinth in 13 hours and though Jareth had dallied, he'd known that if he failed completely he would be spending the night in the outdoors, for they would not admit him at the castle.

A goblin servant greeted him politely and showed him to his quarters. He'd arrived last, as he'd expected and was thus shown the smallest and coldest room.

"Drinks are being served downstairs when you are ready Sir," the small goblin informed him.

Jareth pulled a face, "fine, I guess I might as well go down."

"You do not wish to freshen up Sir?" the goblin enquired.

Jareth looked uncertain, "do I need to wear something in particular?" the old King, he knew, was a stickler for court etiquette.

The servant looked uncertain, clearly unsure if he should presume to tell a royal what to wear, even a minor, relatively unknown, one.

"Current fashion suggests a starched collar with a necktie to be acceptable and I believe velvet to be particularly popular at the moment Sir," he tried.

Jareth did not, unfortunately, own anything velvet and had no idea how to go about starching a collar, so ended up simply changing into something clean.

He entered the drawing room uneasily, his half-brother and sister were already present he saw. As were both sets of cousins. Cousin Amelia, the late Kings eldest daughter was holding court in the centre of the room, obviously deeply confident she would win the throne. Jareth's older brother Thomas and his sister Katy both seemed particularly enamoured; clearly laying down the foundations of a favoured relationship should she succeed.

Amelia's younger brother Thomas had a knife out and was threatening one of the servants for some reason. Jareth avoided eye contact, wanting no part in whatever was going on. Jareth's other cousins, Rick and Jeffrey, were playing some sort of card game, with one other person who Jareth didn't know, probably another bastard.

With Jareth's arrival, dinner finally announced.

It proceeded to be as horrendous as Jareth had expected.

They'd been joined by some of the goblin council, all of whom seemed to be known to the other contenders. Jareth had ended up sitting at the foot of the table, next to the person he hadn't known. He turned out to be called Gavin and was also a cross-breed, being part troll on his father's side. His new acquaintance made it quite clear that part-troll was still better than part-human and pointedly ignored Jareth through most of the meal.

Gavin seemed offended at being placed lower on the table than any of the other contenders, but Jareth was rather relieved. All the people he hated most were at the other end, including his siblings.

He looked around the table curiously and on his other side, his cousin Rick took pity and named the council members.

"At the top end, on Amelia's left, is Sir Hugh, current Weapons Master. Famous for winning a fight against an adult troll."

Jareth immediately resolved to not go anywhere near him.

"The one next to Thomas, that's the head of the council, Fenrook and the one sat next to Jeffrey, that's Gringott, a banker."

Jareth looked across curiously; the banker seemed by far the least horrific, though why a banker would be present was unknown to him,

"a banker?" he asked.

Rick laughed, "that man has made the goblin nation extremely rich!" He sneered slightly, making it clear that though he liked money, he disapproved of goblins that didn't want to spend their lives fighting.

The conversation turned gruesome pretty quickly and Jareth had lost his appetite by the time the main course was served. His companions were discussing the funniest ways they'd ever killed someone. His new cousin Gavin was winning easily and was also showing a rather disturbing taste for eating his victims. Jareth, never having killed anyone, took no part in the conversation and his sister Katy was very quick to point out why, everyone in the vicinity appropriately sneering.

The Weapons Master glanced around the table; so far everything was proceeding as expected. The only 2 contenders he didn't already know extremely well were seated right at the other end. Gavin and Jareth his memory provided, though he was unsure which was which. Both were cross-breeds he knew, a part-troll and a part-human. He sneered inwardly at the last one. He'd only, as far as Hugh had heard, shown his face at one court appearance in his whole life. Hugh had only been relieved not to have had to deal with him.

He was still unsure who he wanted as the next King, but he knew it wouldn't be Jareth. He wasn't that keen on Gavin either, but from what he'd heard, his fighting abilities were by far superior to everyone in the room, bar himself of course.

The council fully intended to manipulate the trials as much as they could, were planning to vote for a short-list of possible winners tomorrow morning. Amelia was current favourite; though Hugh himself was unsure he truly wished to have her on the throne.

He laughed inwardly as, what he assumed must be Jareth, was ousted by his sister as having never killed anyone. He sneered as he watched the part-goblin push his food around the plate, clearly not enjoying the conversation around him. Hugh was unimpressed.

Jareth left the table still hungry and knew he'd end up losing some much needed weight by the end of this trip. He'd always had a delicate stomach, even though his family tried to cure him of it by being as gruesome as possible. Jareth, instead of being cured, had found he was simply unable to eat in their vicinity.

He gazed around the drawing room unhappily. Even Gavin seemed more at home than he was. It wasn't that Jareth didn't try, he had, but somehow he could never draw up any enthusiasm for pretty much anything his extended family was interested in.

Amelia beckoned him over, clearly wanted to have some fun. He went anyway, with an inward sigh, anything was better than standing alone in the corner like a lemon.

"Jareth, how lovely to see you, I simply must introduce you to the current Weapons Master. Sir Hugh, this is my cousin Jareth, Jareth this is Sir Hugh. He's the only goblin alive who's won single combat against an adult troll you know!" she continued on, listing Hugh's accomplishments with relish.

Jareth smiled politely, through gritted teeth.

Jareth cast around for something to say and came up blank, so simply stayed quiet.

At the total silence, Sir Hugh was forced, by good manners, to come up with conversation, already knowing from the look in Amelia's eye that she wouldn't come to the rescue. She wanted her cousin humiliated he knew and he would be happy to oblige.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Sir," he came up with as a start, meaning it not at all and barely managing to hide the sneer.

To his surprise, Jareth, instead of cowering away from him, sneered back. Sir Hugh was used to being respected by the entirety of the goblin nation, including the royal family. He was feared by everyone around him and rightly so, for he had more than proved himself worthy of his title as Weapons Master.

Jareth seemed to find his deeds less than impressive and was very clearly looking around for escape. Hugh had expected this; he'd just expected Jareth to retreat with fear in his eyes, once he heard of Hugh's great deeds. Not barely-contained disgust.

Amelia didn't notice the difference and considered herself duly entertained by Jareth's attempted retreat. Sir Hugh though found himself curiously unsatisfied. How dare a part-human not be impressed with Him? He was a decorated war hero!

The head of the council, Fenrook, called for silence and proceeded to explain exactly how the trials would work. There were 12 trials left and they would only get harder and harder, leading up to the grand finale; fighting a troll. Now the council wasn't stupid, nobody other than the Weapons Master would be able to beat a troll and they knew it. Instead, all the competitors needed to do was stay upright and conscious for 5 minutes while in the same room as a troll, still an impressive feat, but one unlikely to end in anyone's death.

Jareth jumped slightly, as with Fenrook's explanations over, Sir Hugh pushed past him rudely and proceeded to loudly ask Gavin a series of questions about Gavin's fighting ability. Gavin gave a good account and was in turn suitably impressed by Hugh's own experiences.

Jareth couldn't help but listen, growing less impressed by the minute. He knew it was a bad idea his coming here. He didn't even want to be King, the idea that these people considered eating their victims brains to be a delicacy was just revolting to him.

Hugh was actually quite impressed with Gavin. Here was someone that truly understood fighting and warfare and would fit in with the goblins very well. He began to revise his opinion of crowning a half-blood.

Hugh glanced around discretely; Jareth was still in the vicinity, must have heard everything. He smirked. Jareth must be feeling completely out of his depth now, must have been acknowledging his total lack of credentials to even be present at this gathering.

Hugh turned, done with Gavin for the moment, and caught Jareth's eye. Hugh grinned his nastiest grin and Jareth recoiled from him like he'd expected, but again, it still wasn't in fear. Jareth was looking at him like he was disgusting, like the goblin Weapons Master was completely revolting.

Jareth turned away and made his way over to the banker, ignoring protocol and just introducing himself. Gringott was shocked at the way the conversation went, completely unused to someone admiring him, especially a member of the royal family. Yet Jareth clearly, not only admired him, but was deeply interested in his opinions. Goblins were generally little more than servants to the hobgoblins, tolerated, but judged as lesser in everyday life. Gringott was so successful with his bank that he could not be ignored, but even so, he was generally only tolerated, not admired. So he had no idea how to deal with someone like Jareth.

Sir Hugh was also, for some unknown reason, glaring at him from across the room. Gringott glanced around him, but it was definitely him Hugh was glaring at. He zoned out from the discussion while he worried about his future. Hugh was not known to be a forgiving goblin when someone upset him, though Gringott had not the smallest idea what he could have done.

Hugh had not been so angry in years. Jareth was almost fawning over Gringott. Gringott! A mere goblin and a banker at that! Gringott looked suitably cowed by his glare, but Jareth actually turned slightly, so Hugh would no longer be within sight. Hugh, furious, shrugged off Amelia's claim for his attention, ruder than he had ever been to the girl.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Second Trial**

The council met up the next morning, to talk about preparations for the 2nd trial. They were slightly confused when, instead of giving his report on the preparations, Sir Hugh just wanted to talk and complain about the half-breed human. Curiously, it was the goblin banker Gringott, who for once braved being on the opposing side to Sir Hugh, and who loudly and firmly came down on the side of Jareth.

No one else on the council had really interacted with Jareth, but the strong feelings he seemed to invoke made them all heartily curious. Even if only to know who exactly had succeeded in angering Hugh to such extent.

Fenrook got his chance fairly quickly, as Jareth failed the second task earlier than anyone else by far. The task was one of the easier ones and only involved endurance. Jareth dropped out only 2 hours in. The council fully expected the winner to endure about 30 hours.

Hugh, who was stood beside Fenrook, had sneered as Jareth dropped out, taking it as proof for his lack of worthiness. Though Fenrook suspected it was pragmatism, Jareth, having given up early, would spent the next 2 days being waited on, while his family were out in the rain and cold.

Jareth groaned inwardly when Sir Hugh came up and proceeded to introduce Fenrook, the head of the counsel. Jareth smiled as politely as he could, while wishing he'd had time to escape to his room before he was forcibly introduced to yet another psychotic goblin.

Fenrook blinked in shock. He was the most powerful goblin in the world. Even Sir Hugh was subservient, to a slight degree, though he would never of course presume to give the Weapons Master orders.

Jareth though, far from seeming impressed with Fenrook's resume, looked more like a goblin looking for an escape route from an obnoxious guest! Insulted, Fenrook glanced at Hugh, who simply stared back at him impassively. The look of relief on Jareth's face when Gringott walked past was even more insulting.

Gringott was extremely scared now, not only was Sir Hugh still glaring at him, but so was the head of the council, Fenrook. He looked back at Jareth, unsure if the admiring glances were worth his staying in Jareth's presence. He liked the man, was completely flattered that someone would admire him for his accomplishments, but if it meant making enemies with the hobgoblins, he would have a problem.

He wasn't even sure why first Sir Hugh and now Fenrook even gave a damn about Jareth's opinion. He wasn't a serious contender for the throne after all.

Fenrook glared across the room. He then glanced at Sir Hugh, finding them, for once, in complete agreement. Jareth would have to be taken down. Fenrook was not going to stand for a cross-breed looking at him like he was disgusting; nobody got to dismiss the temporary of the goblin nation like that.

By the evening there was still no sign of any other competitor and Jareth smirked as he thought of them standing outside in the cold and rain. It wasn't until later the next day that competiters started dropping out and the trial concluded with a surprising victor. Katy, Jareth's sister held out for a record 42 hours. Jareth and his brotherrolled their eyes at each other, completely unsurprised. Katy had probably enjoyed herself, she liked denying herself things.

This time when they sat down to supper it was Katy sitting at the head, Jareth having come last was again seated at the foot, though this time Gringott seemed to have arranged matters so that he was sat next to him.

As temporary regent, Katy had complete power over the table and Jareth was not even slightly surprised when she announced a complete ban on alcohol. He sniggered slightly as the rest of the table, politely hid their real reactions. Someone even going so far as to agree that yes, alcohol was indeed a vile drink.

As the meal went on Jareth briefly wished he was closer to the action, as he could guess that Katy was, true to form, terrifying her neighbours with her religious vision of the goblin nation's future. It would be a future involving strict adherence to moral virtues.

Jareth nudged Gringott and carefully produced a flask under the table. Gringott's eyes lit up and it was quickly poured into their orange juice. It wasn't at all long before they were both rather merry.

Fenrook wondered if he looked as traumatised as he felt, once again he and Sir Hugh were in complete silent agreement. This woman would be crowned Queen over their deceased and decaying bodies. He'd never needed a drink so much in his life. The table was practically sitting in silence, though he heard laughter at the other end. He looked suspiciously down the table, Gringott and Jareth were both laughing uproariously. He frowned; it almost looked like they were drunk.

His suspicion was confirmed when he actually heard Gringott giggle. He didn't think he had ever hated two people quite so much in his entire life.

**The third trial**

The third trial involved proving oneself in battle against the other contenders. It was a completely unsurprising victory for Gavin. Jareth had again come last.

The goblin council, discussing Jareth's early failure, were forced to admit that Jareth seemed to be deliberately not trying. This was not something that had happened before and they were unsure how to deal with it. On the one hand, Jareth as a cross-breed couldn't possibly take the throne. On the other, Jareth needed to want the throne so Fenrook and Hugh could hurt and humiliate him when they gave it to someone else.

This time, the temporary regent was Gavin and he got involved with the evening meal to the extent of planning the menu.

Jareth watched in horror as the snails in his snail starter kept moving around the plate. There was no chance in hell that he was going to be eating something that still moved.

Gringott didn't seem especially keen either, though Jareth noticed that Fenrook and Sir Hugh seemingly had no problem digesting the meal.

The rest of the party seemed divided, though not one was willing to admit weakness and they all made sure to be seen eating at least some of the snails.

Jareth moved his cutlery into a rough circular shape. Grinning he picked out one of his biggest snails and placed him in the centre. He drew out a 5 galleon note and put it on the table, staring challengingly at Gringott.

Gringott paused. He'd already got into trouble for getting drunk the night before. He took a discrete glance down the table and was reassured to see that the other council members were all intent on their conversation.

He picked up one of his smaller snails and placed it in the circle, placing another 5 galleon note on top of Jareth's.

Even their neighbours were slowly drawn in and though Katy looked disdainful, Jeffrey quietly added his own snail.

"Let battle commence," Jareth intoned quietly.

They quickly drew in most of the table and quietly several side bets were placed.

At the head of the table, Hugh paused from his conversation with Gavin, as he noticed how quiet things had become further down.

He frowned uncertainly, was that a snail race?

He glanced over at Fenrook. They'd spent the evening quizzing Gavin and both had been pleasurably impressed with both his level of intelligence and understanding of goblin culture.

Fenrook looked back at Hugh; he'd thought his quiet talk with Gringott would do the trick and had reassured the Weapons Master earlier. Apparently not, since both Gringott and Jareth appeared to be at the centre of the action once more.

Fenrook bit down his envy. The other end of the table appeared to be having far more fun and suddenly, the serious conversation going on at the head seemed actually rather dull. And snails? Gavin really enjoyed eating live snails?

He'd been warming to the man, but suddenly, it all seemed rather ridiculous.

Hugh glowered when even Fenrook started paying more attention to the snail race than to dinner conversation.


	4. Chapter 4

**The Fourth Trial**

Jareth was, unknowingly, becoming rather a celebrity across the Labyrinth. He was much talked about in taverns, as people gave their opinion on the gossip that one of the royals very clearly wasn't willing to fight for the goblin throne.

Opinion was divided among three camps. Most of the non-goblin citizens were of the 'live-and-let-live' opinion, some of them even going so far as to think him entirely sensible.

The goblins themselves were divided into those who were outraged and offended that someone would sneer at the highest position a goblin could achieve, and those who thought he was touched-in-the-head, but ultimately harmless. This wasn't uncommon, for the royal family had carried the taint of madness for generations now and the goblins had learned to live with it. One could, the goblins pointed out, find more than a hint of it in all the competitors and Jareth was one of the more harmless eccentrics in the bunch.

Jareth was unfortunately rather oblivious to the gossip, or he would have tried to be far less obvious. All he really wanted was to quietly vanish back into his life as quickly as possible, still being relatively unknown to as many goblins as possible. He was just far too lazy to actually keep going with the tasks for any length of time.

Jareth was rooting for one of his cousins, Rick in particular, to win the crown. That way Jareth would be able to slide back into obscurity without any need for future court appearances. He strongly suspected his siblings, if they won, would rather enjoy forcing him to be at their beck and call.

Anyway, he only had to last out these trials and he would be free of any further obligations to the goblins forever. Even the royals could only take part in the goblin trials once in their lifetime and Jareth's right to the throne would be gone completely once the tasks were completed and the new King or Queen crowned, regardless of the length of time they reigned.

Jareth's behaviour changed with the announcement of the fourth trial and Jareth ended up actually putting forth his best effort.

It would have been nice to say that this was because he had listened to Gringott, who had given him a quiet warning that his actions were fast becoming notorious across the Underground. But it wasn't entirely true. It was Jareth's ego that demanded he not come last.

For the fourth trial was basically an intelligence test.

Jareth was, in his own way, just as egocentric as any of the others with royal blood and had no intention whatsoever of being proved as less intelligent than his lunatic family.

Jareth tied for second place with his cousin Amelia, much to his disgust, and it was Gavin that proved victorious once again. Jareth sulked, and all but pouted, before pretending he'd only tried half-heartedly, much to Gringott's amusement. His relative success also meant he was forced to sit next to Sir Hugh and his sister Katy for dinner. Gavin's success meant that he got to choose the menu once more, an unwelcome prospect for most of the table.

Jareth stared at the worms crawling over his plate; he poked them slightly, watching them wriggle away in disgust.

He watched in morbid fascination as Sir Hugh twirled them around his fork, as though he was eating spaghetti.

Sir Hugh sighed inwardly, he spent much of his life as a goblin ambassador in the company of almost every creature in existence and this wasn't the worse meal he'd eaten, but it also was not something he would ever choose voluntarily. Unfortunately Hugh could not afford to ever show weakness, particularly could not allow himself to be seen as squeamish.

He looked up to find Jareth watching him intently. Hugh swallowed his mouthful of worms and Jareth glanced away, looking green.

By the end of the main course Jareth had not managed to eat more than his bread roll and even that he'd had to force down. Hugh sighed slightly and then discretely pushed his own bread roll in Jareth's direction, aware that Jareth had eaten very little for several days now.

Jareth stared suspiciously, before giving Hugh a small smile.

Hugh smiled back slightly, before his attention was once again drawn back to the current reigning monarch.

Amelia smirked at Jareth from across the table as she finished her own worms with gusto, being one of the few diners actually enjoying them. Jareth glowered back, still not over his sulk of coming joint second with her.

Hugh watched the pair of them, amused, as they proceeded to glare at each other across the table. They were reminding him very much of his 12 year old nephews, both parties equally certain of their own superiority.

All three of them had actually done surprisingly well in the test, beating the other competitors by a very large margin.

Gavin, though showing slightly less inherent intelligence than the other two, pulled ahead by virtue of actually having an interest in the world outside of himself and being used to actually thinking things through.

Jareth and Amelia, on the other hand, both showed a remarkable degree of ignorance on subjects that didn't directly relate to their own interests. They were both rather too clever and had got used to manipulating people around them to do any work for them. Typical royals they were used to breezing through life with a minimum of effort and both had found during the test that they actually had to put that intelligence to work, which had very clearly come as rather a shock to them.

**The Fifth Trial**

The fifth trial was all about strategy, the contenders having to lead and co-ordinate the goblin army in a minor battle. This was something that had given Sir Hugh a huge headache, he'd had to arrange 7 battles to coincide and take roughtly the same amount of leadership skills. The task was arranged over a full week, one contestant taking part each day. Sir Hugh had carefully made sure that the more experienced candidates took charge of the hardest battles.

Jareth had not the smallest idea how to go about leading an army and his first attempt did not go well. He had only a small smattering of military knowledge, which consisted mainly of the knowledge that one should usually try and take the high ground. This was not at all useful when the skirmish occurred in a forest. Jareth's task was simple, he had to coordinate and attack a dwarf convoy.

Sir Hugh had had to step in and take over before Jareth got his people completely killed and so Jareth ended up coming last.

Once again, Gavin proved his abilities and won the victory in both the shortest time and with the fewest casualties. Once again Amelia ended up sat at his side.

Gavin's victory made a huge difference at the evening meal, as suddenly the other contenders were forced to take a cross-breed seriously. This meant they started, to Jareth's disgust, courting the Gavin's favour, even Amelia, though she still held out high hopes of her own.

Even the council members had started to treat Gavin a little differently from the others, something they had previously done for Amelia. Suddenly it was Gavin who was holding court in the evenings, much to Amelia's disgust.

None of the contestants was quite sure how the new King or Queen was actually decided, whether one needed to win every trial, or just show all round ability and the council wasn't talking, so everyone was hedging their bets.

Jareth fiddled with his fork, back at the foot of the table. Gringott wasn't present at all, claiming business affairs and so Jareth was back to being the black sheep of the gathering. Somehow though, failing from lack of ability made the foot of the table slightly less acceptable.

He was beginning to suspect that Gavin was deliberately picking the troll-friendly revolting meals to deliberately annoy the other contenders. A tactic he would have found amusing were he himself one of the main victims.

Jareth hadn't eaten properly in days now.

The food issues were actually becoming of concern to the council had Jareth but known it, for though Jareth was the most obvious in his disgust, he was not the only royal unable to stomach live food. It was effectively a brilliant tactic, succeeding in demoralising at least three of the contenders, but even Hugh was becoming sick of having to catch his food before it wandered off his plate.

Hugh looked down the table with some concern. Jareth was looking rather unhappy and was playing with his fork.

Hugh listened to Gavin with half an ear. The man was showing himself to be an intelligent, effective man who would lead the goblins well. The only flaw he seemed to have was the rather unfortunate appetite. This was not something they couldn't work around and there had been King's with worse appetites by far. In fact Hugh more than suspected that he was playing up on his part-troll heritage to wind up the other contenders.


End file.
